Tigris Pharmaceuticals Appoints Neil Flanzraich to Executive Chairman of the Board

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Tigris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held drug development company, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Neil Flanzraich as Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.

"The appointment of Mr. Flanzraich is a very important milestone for Tigris Pharmaceuticals' future," said Edmundo Muniz, MD, PhD, President and CEO of Tigris, adding, "Neil brings to Tigris extraordinary ability and pharmaceutical industry experience and a remarkable track record of success. We are extremely pleased to welcome him to our company."

Mr. Flanzraich also serves as Chairman of ParinGenix, Inc., another privately owned biotechnology company.  He is also the founder and a principal of a venture capital firm, Leviathan Biopharma Group, LLC.  

For over seven years, prior to its sale in 2006, Mr. Flanzraich served as Vice Chairman and President of IVAX Corporation, an international pharmaceutical company acquired by TEVA Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. Prior to his tenure at IVAX, Mr. Flanzraich served as Chairman of the Life Sciences Legal Practice Group of Heller Ehrman LLP, a law firm, and for thirteen years, he worked at Syntex Corporation, an international pharmaceutical company, where he was Senior Vice President and member of the Corporate Operating Committee.

"I am delighted to become Tigris Pharmaceuticals' Executive Chairman," said Mr. Flanzraich.  "I am joining a leadership team with deep expertise and an impressive record of accomplishment.  Our combined capabilities, shared values and focus and the company's exciting pipeline will make Tigris an extraordinarily successful enterprise."

Mr. Flanzraich serves as a director of Equity One, Inc., a real estate company, Continucare Corporation, a mixed model provider of primary care physician services, Chipotle Mexican Grill, a developer and operator of fast-casual, fresh Mexican food restaurants in the United States, and Canada, and England and Bellus Health, a biotechnology company focused on neurology products.  He also serves as a director of privately owned, Outcomes Health Information Solutions, LLC, a provider of healthcare data retrieval, analytic and management services.

Mr. Flanzraich graduated from Harvard College (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude).  

About Tigris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Tigris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a privately held biopharmaceutical company that develops therapeutic technologies to treat oncology and other human diseases.  Tigris is currently initiating a Phase II trial for AFP-464, a novel anticancer agent in patients with breast cancer and is also conducting a multi-center Phase I dose escalation study for GGTI-2418, another first-in-class agent, at Abramson Cancer Center at The University of Pennsylvania and Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center.  

With a management team that has a proven track record in guiding molecules from the early stages of clinical development to successful worldwide approvals, we offer large pharmaceutical drug development expertise in conjunction with the agility and speed of a small organization.

This news release contains forward-looking statements.  Such statements are valid only as of today, and Tigris disclaims any obligation to update this information.  These statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made.  These statements are based on the company's current beliefs and expectations as to such future outcomes.  Drug development involves a high degree of risk.  Factors that might cause such a material difference include, among others uncertainties related to Tigris' ability to attract and retain partners for its technologies, the identification of lead compounds, the successful preclinical development thereof, the completion of clinical trials, the FDA review process and other governmental regulation, its pharmaceutical collaborator's ability to successfully develop and commercialize drug candidates from other pharmaceutical companies, product pricing and third party reimbursement.

SOURCE Tigris Pharmaceuticals, Inc.